BIRM-166’s Moss Ledger
Archived: 25 September 2026
Abstract
The modern label 30,711 BCE cannot identify an Irish event, as MIS 3 evidence is broadly dated and uncertain. At Derryvree, County Fermanagh, deposits between glacial tills preserve an ice-free periglacial wetland of mosses, sedges, herbs, pools and treeless open ground. Castlepook Cave, County Cork, provides a complex, time-averaged fauna including mammoth, giant deer, reindeer, predators and cold-adapted animals. Lower sea levels altered access to surrounding lands, but routes remain uncertain. A possibly butchered reindeer bone suggests brief human activity, not settlement. Together, these damaged archives reveal fluctuating Ice Age habitats, while precluding claims about inhabitants, events or precise dates.